I want to let you know about a couple of important developments. First, I’ve started blogging on another site, Tincture, as well as here; second, there’s important news in the world of health I.T. (or personal health data or whatever you want to call it).

First, the health IT news: there seems to be good stuff happening! An international data transfer standard called FHIR (pronounced “fire”) has been in development for years, and is finally nearing the time when it will (we hope) change the world for those of us who want unfettered access to all our health data.

It’s not very visible to the general public yet, but a Google Image search shows tons of different graphics illustrating different perspectives. Google shows different people different things but here’s what I get:

It’s been a busy winter. Amid all the Facebook scandals and new government regulation work that’s going on, I thought I’d send an update on travels. Here are some visuals from a recent 17 day, six country, seven speech trip. (Fun facts: nine different hotels, and doing laundry in a Vienna laundromat that only takes instructions from a smartphone app.)

The background image is the HIMSS19 (health IT systems conference) logo repeated over and over and over and over, because that brutal exhausting conference is like that :-), and is the background of everything else.

Less is more, health IT edition: On the HL7 Standards blog, Michelle Ronan Noteboom looks at the idea that too much is way too much when it comes to several things, including portals and medical treatment. “When Less Is More in Health IT”

You can get it at Lowe’s: Not hardware, although they do certainly have plenty of that. In this piece on the Health Affairs blog, Bob Ihrie and Alan Spiro take a look at how Lowe’s retooled their employee health insurance coverage with an eye on behavioral economics, trust, and relationship dynamics. “Engaging Health Care Consumers: the Lowe’s Experience”

Tattoo you: I (Casey) have been making the health IT event rounds lately as a patient voice on panels about health tech and patient engagement. Since I took a very out-there step related to my own health data, my appearance in the room can start some interesting conversations. An example, by Jim Tate in the HITECH Answers blog: “Patient Engagement: I Tattoo, Therefore I Am”

Lab coats – yes or no? A meta-analysis of the study data available on patient satisfaction scores and physician attire shows that patients are likely to rate a doctor who’s dressed professionally higher than one who isn’t. What’s your thinking there – would you prefer a tie (which can be an infection vector), or are scrubs OK with you? From Lena Weiner in HealthLeaders Media: “Physicians’ Attire Linked to Patient Satisfaction Rates”

From the This Will Never Get Old desk: A film director and his wife took to YouTube back in 2010 to illustrate the user experience when you’re a patient booking healthcare, setting that illustration in the context of air travel booking. The results were, and are, hilarious. The New Altons on YouTube: “If air travel worked like healthcare“